


I Wish

by KnifeofIce



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: M/M, Medical School AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-10 23:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1165656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KnifeofIce/pseuds/KnifeofIce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abe rarely has time to make it to Mihashi's games, but it's even more frustrating when he gets called up to pitch in his first professional game. Abe is a medical student AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Wish

_“It’s fine.”_

Abe looked up at the clock on the wall. 1 p.m. The first pitch was being thrown.

_“It’s your job, Takaya. I…I understand”_

All of his SOAP notes were done, he had had clinic that morning, dealt with a couple of broken wrists, and there he sat, pondering their conversation from the other night. Abe of course was thrilled that Mihashi was being called up. But then he checked his schedule. There was no way to get out of work. The worst part was that the game was about an hour away by train. Abe had apologized profusely. Mihashi reassured Abe that it would be okay, but Abe caught that flash of disappointment in the other’s eyes.

_His eyes darted downwards, small smile seemingly forced._

_“I’ll be fine.”_

This was absurd. Abe can’t even  _remember_  the last time he hadn’t been up to his eyeballs in notes to do, patients to see, and muscles and bone to be repaired. It pissed him off, frankly. He sighed loudly and grabbed one of his review books for his board exams and reluctantly opened it to the chapter on elbows. One of the other residents walked in behind him, five minutes later, as he was about to throw the book across the room. He had just gotten to “Tommy John Surgeries”, a fairly common procedure done in pro pitchers.

“I’m surprised you haven’t turned the game on,” quipped Sana, a third year resident and his senior.

It was almost a prerequisite to get into orthopedic surgery to enjoy sports. All of Abe’s co-workers knew about his relationship with Mihashi. And all of them knew the box scores of all of his games.  They had heard that Abe’s SO had been called up to pitch in his first professional game. They also knew how despaired he was to be at work that day.

Abe gave her his most pitiful, mournful look. “You know I can’t do that on the network here.”

She sat at one of the computers after rolling her eyes, clicking and typing. 30 seconds later—

“You should go.”

He looked up from where he had been laying his head on his book, hoping to osmose some of the knowledge it held. “Uh?”

“Go. There’s no one else scheduled this afternoon and we can cover rounds.”

Before the last words were out of her mouth, Abe had shoved his book back on the little shelf above his station, hung up his white coat and grabbed his backpack, hurrying out of the work room as fast as he could.

“Keep your beeper on you, just in case!” Sana called down the hall after him. Luckily Abe had grabbed it and clipped it to his belt on his way out.

“Thanks!” he replied, knowing he was going to have to take a couple of night shifts for this one.

It took 15 minutes to walk to the station, almost an hour to get to the train stop he needed to be at, and maybe another 20 minutes from there.  _Damn,_ Mihashi  would almost be out of the game by then. Abe ran to the station, cutting his usual time in half. The train ride to the correct station was  _agonizing_. His wrist was starting to ache from how many times he checked his watch.

Abe was now an expert at dodging people both from his morning commute and from working in a place with such a high concentration of people going in ten different directions at once. The 20 minute walk to the stadium turned into a 10 minute jog, the sleeves of his dress shirt now unbuttoned and rolled up to his elbows, tie loosened around his neck.

He slowed down to catch his breath as he approached the stadium, crowd now packed inside. Luckily it wasn’t scorching hot outside. Abe bought his ticket and went inside, finding the gate where his seat was. He emerged to see the stands packed with fans, mostly supporters of Mihashi’s team. They were all cheering loudly and Abe took in the scenery, attempting to get oriented to the game. Why were they all cheering…?

A glance upwards showed a fan putting a backwards “K” on a homemade poster, joining a few others like it. That meant—

Abe looked down at the field and his heart skipped a beat.

There he was. Mihashi was on the mound in a professional game, face unreadable as he shook a sign from his catcher. A satisfactory call and the set. The delivery and follow-through. Another strike and another roar from the crowd. It was overwhelming.  _He made it._

Bottom of the sixth inning and no runs allowed. Abe found his seat but it was difficult to sit still. His heart felt ready to burst with pride as he watched Mihashi jog off the field, returning high-fives from his new teammates.

He pitched another inning after that and a closer was brought in to defend the lead and the shut-out for another two innings. He had his first professional league win.

The newly professional pitcher exited the locker room, freshly showered and glowing with praise from his teammates, coaches and the press. Things couldn’t have gone any better today as far as his game went. There was one thing though that was nagging him in the back of his mind.  _If only_  began to form in before he physically shook his head.  _No_ , he was going to enjoy this win. He had performed in front of thousands of people with the best of his ability. But the person he wanted most to show how strong he’s become wasn’t there.

He was almost immediately swarmed by the press sticking microphones and tape recorders towards him. Mihashi felt his heart rate increase as he politely declined comments. He would go home to an empty apartment and relax, maybe watch highlights from some of the other games in the league. Abe would come home much later, wiped out and sore and Mihashi would tell him what happened during the game. Abe would curl up to him on the couch and listen to every painstaking detail of the game, small, nostalgic smile on his face. And he would say  _I wish I could have been there to see it._

“-en!”

Mihashi’s head snapped up.

“Oi, Ren!”

There he was, waving Mihashi over.

Abe could only be in this area if he had—

Mihashi’s heart jumped into his throat, large smile erupting on his face as he jogged over to an over-dressed Abe. He threw his arms around his partner and pressed their lips together.  

It had been so long since Abe had seen Mihashi this genuinely, outwardly happy. Medical school and residency had not been kind to their relationship, straining them to their limits of what was tolerable. He felt a pang of guilt right then, but this was Mihashi’s moment. He would save that for later.

“T-Takaya! You saw…!”

Abe nodded and smiled, Mihashi’s excitement finally getting to him. “You were amazing.”

He looked over Mihashi’s shoulder as some overly curious members of the press seemed to be making their way towards them. Ah right, Ren was going to be even  _more_  famous after his debut. Abe sighed. He supposed having a famous boyfriend was pretty low on his “problems” list. “Let’s—“

He was interrupted by a loud sharp beep. That could only be…

The two of them looked down at Abe’s belt. Mihashi knew the tone all too well and his heart sank. It had gone off numerous times before in the middle of the night, signaling that Abe needed to go in to the hospital ASAP. Abe offered multiple times to sleep on the couch so Mihashi wouldn’t have to wake up, but there was no way he wanted to spend any of the nights they were both actually home in separate sleeping areas.

Abe let out a heavy sigh, peeking at the number that paged him. He laced his fingers in Mihashi’s and turned to face the exit.

“C’mon Ace. Let’s go before they get too nosy,” he said, jerking his head back towards the people approaching, cameras and tape recorders at the ready.

Mihashi nodded enthusiastically, as Abe led him towards the gate. He used his free hand to grudgingly call and find out what was waiting for him when he returned to the hospital. Mihashi clung close, still grinning, knowing that nothing could ruin this day, not even a six hour trauma surgery. 


End file.
